What Would Happen if NASCAR Tried Right Turns?

With the exception of a few road course races, most of the NASCAR races are held on ovals. The cars always race counter-clockwise on the ovals, meaning the cars only turn left.

Given all the attention that learning and expertise has been getting, I’m deeply curious as to what would happen if for one race NASCAR went in the opposite direction, so that it was all right turns. I understand that they would probably have to do a lot of work to the cars, because the cars must be optimized for left turns, but put that aside. Would lap times be appreciably worse because the drivers would have trouble cornering? Would there be more crashes? Would the same drivers excel?

I think NASCAR should give it a shot. It would generate a lot of interest. I suspect, both among hardcore NASCAR fans and more casual sports fans.

You are only correct in that torque alone can not flip a car. But if the major speedway cars were sent down the the track the wrong way with their current design, the other forces in play along with the torque would be more than enough to get cars airborne. Those cars are design to counter balance everything to the left to keep the vehicle on line through a banked curve. Reversing the bank without reversing the design (the scenario I described) would be tragic.

Obviously, you have never watched a race in your life. Otherwise, you would know that most of the drivers were hired from other series like Sprint cars, dirt cars, etc. Also, most of them participate Rolex 24 at Daytona road course and yes they do have the road courses every year. Lastly, they use different cars for each track so the teams would build a car that was optimized for right handed turns.